A network system and method are disclosed. The network system includes at least one docking station to which a portable electronic device is individually couplable. Each of the at least one docking station is configured to allow the portable electronic device to access a network to receive information corresponding to a personality profile associated with the respective one of the at least one docking station upon the portable electronic device being coupled to the respective one of the at least one docking station.
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1. A network system comprising at least one docking station to which a portable electronic device is individually couplable, each of the at least one docking station being configured to allow the portable electronic device to access a network to receive information corresponding to a personality profile associated with the respective one of the at least one docking station upon the portable electronic device being coupled to the respective one of the at least one docking station.
9. A method for providing information to a user via a portable electronic device, the method comprising:
coupling the portable electronic device to one of at least one docking station;
accessing an identifier associated with the respective one of the at least one docking station in response to the coupling of the portable electronic device to the one of at least one docking station;
accessing a web service on the internet to retrieve information corresponding to a respective personality profile based on the identifier; and
displaying the information corresponding to the respective personality profile that is retrieved from the network on the portable electronic device.
13. A docking station to which each of at least one portable electronic device are individually couplable, the docking station comprising a memory that is configured to store at least one website uniform resource locator (URL) associated with information corresponding to the respective personality profile associated with the docking station, the docking station being configured to allow the at least one portable electronic device to automatically access at least one website associated with the respective at least one website URL from the internet to receive the information corresponding to the respective personality profile upon the respective one of the at least one portable electronic device being coupled to the docking station.
2. The system of
3. The system of
4. The system of
5. The system of
6. The system of
7. The system of
8. The system of
10. The method of
accessing the web service via an internet browser on the portable electronic device; and
querying the web service for information corresponding to the respective personality profile associated with the respective one of the at least one docking station based on the identifier.
11. The method of
12. The method of
14. The system of
15. The system of
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A variety of portable electronic devices, such as laptop computers and wireless communications devices, can be coupled to docking stations to provide electrical connection to peripheral devices, for charging the batteries of the portable electronic device, or to provide access to a network. The portable electronic device can operate both while coupled and uncoupled with the docking station. However, the docking station may allow additional functionality of the portable electronic device while coupled to the docking station.
In the example of
The manner in which the sets of personality profile information 18 are associated with the docking stations 14 can be based on an identifier in the docking stations 14, such as stored in a memory or based on a unique network identifier of each respective docking station 14. As an example, one of the docking stations 14 can be located in the kitchen of the users home. Therefore, the user can couple the portable electronic device 12 to that docking station 14 in the kitchen to access the respective personality profile information 18 from the network 16 based on the identifier to read recipes via the portable electronic device 12. As another example, another one of the docking stations 14 can be located in the office of the user's home. Therefore, the user can couple the portable electronic device 12 to that docking station 14 in the office to access the respective personality profile information 18 from the network 16 based on the identifier to receive information or software associated with finances and/or the users employment via the portable electronic device 12.
As described above, the network 16 can be the Internet, such that the personality profile information 18 accessed from the network 16 can be provided as a website from the Internet. Thus, the identifier in each of the docking stations 14 can include a uniform resource locator (URL) corresponding to the website that is accessed from the Internet. Alternatively, the identifier can be a unique identifier associated with each of the respective docking stations 14, such that the Internet can be queried for the personality profile information 18 based on the unique identifier. Therefore, in the above example, the portable electronic device 12 can retrieve one or more websites that include the recipes from the network 16 via the docking station 14 that is located in the kitchen and launch one of the websites from an Internet browser on the portable electronic device 12. Similarly, the portable electronic device 12 can retrieve one or more websites that include tax preparation software or money-management software from the network 16 via the docking station 14 that is located in the office and launch one of the websites from the Internet browser on the portable electronic device 12. The launching of the website can be automatic, or can be in response to an instruction by the user or the portable electronic device 12.
In addition, the personality profile of the docking stations 14 can be edited by the user. For example, the user can access a configuration screen, such as from the portable electronic device 12, to add personality profiles to new or existing docking stations 14, can edit the personality profile of one or more of the docking stations 14, and/or can delete personality profiles of one or more of the docking stations 14. As an example, the configuration screen can be a dedicated configuration screen on the portable electronic device 12, such as accessible anytime or when coupled to a specific docking station 14 for editing the personality profile information 18 of that specific docking station 14. As another example, the configuration screen can be a website that is accessible from the portable electronic device 12 or from any other computer device that can access the Internet.
It is to be understood that the network system 10 in the example of
The network system 50 demonstrates the portable electronic device 12 coupled to a docking station 14. The docking station 14 is demonstrated as including a memory 51 which stores a personality profile identifier 52. The memory 51 in each of the docking stations 14 can be a non-volatile memory, such as a flash memory or an EEPROM. As an example, upon the portable electronic device 12 being coupled to the docking station 14, the portable electronic device 12 is notified of the coupling. In response, the portable electronic device 12 accesses the personality profile identifier 52 from the memory 51. The portable electronic device 12 then accesses the network 16 via the docking station 14, as indicated by the arrow 54, and receives the appropriate personality profile information 18 corresponding to the personality profile identifier 52, as indicated by the arrow 56. The accessing and display of the personality profile information 18 by the portable electronic device 12 can be automatic, such that the portable electronic device 12 accesses the network 16 via the docking station 14 substantially immediately in response to being coupled to the docking station 14 and without being prompted.
As described above in the example of
In addition, in the example of
As another example, the unique identifier 58 and the personality profile identifier 52 stored in memory can be used in combination to access the personality profile information 18 from the network 16. Specifically, the portable electronic device 12 can query the web service on the network 16 to access a set of personality profiles corresponding to the docking station 14. The portable electronic device can then select a specific one of the personality profiles to access corresponding personality profile information 18 based on the personality profile identifier 52 stored in the memory 51.
In the example of
The configuration screen 100 demonstrates eleven separate docking stations 14 in the associated network system 10, as indicated by a first column 104. The configuration screen 100 includes prompts at 106 that allow a user to add additional docking stations 14 and characteristics of the docking stations 14, including a personality profile, to the network system 10. The configuration screen 100 also includes information associated with each of the docking stations 14. Specifically, the configuration screen 100 includes an identification (ID) column 108, such as to identify the docking stations 14 for the user or for the network 16. For example, the ID column 108 could correspond to the unique identifier 58 of the docking stations 14, such as within a given set of docking stations 14 or within the entirety of the Internet. The configuration screen 100 also includes a location column 110 of the docking stations 14 to indicate the physical location of the docking station 14. The configuration screen 100 further includes a docking station personality column 112 corresponding to the actual personality profile of the docking stations 14. In the example of
The characteristics of the personality profile for the docking stations 14 are demonstrated in the URL column 114. Specifically, the user can enter a website URL for each of the docking stations 14 corresponding to the personality profile of the respective docking stations 14. Thus, in the example of
After the user sets the information on the configuration screen 100, the personality profile identifier 52 can be saved in the memory 51 of the respective docking stations 14. For the example of the configuration screen 100 being a website, the URL that is entered into the URL column 114 can be downloaded to each of the docking stations 14 from the network 16 as the personality profile identifier 52. For the example of the configuration screen 100 being a local software component on the portable electronic device 12, the URL that is entered into the URL column 114 can be saved directly to the memory 51 of a docking station 14 as the personality profile identifier 52 upon the portable electronic device 12 being coupled to the respective docking station 14. For the example of the configuration screen 100 corresponding to a web service on the Internet, the URL that is entered into the URL column 114 can thus be assigned to the ID of the respective docking station 14, as dictated by the ID column 108.
The generation of the personality profiles via the configuration screen 100 and the saving of the personality profile identifiers 52 to the memory 51 of the docking stations 14 can thus allow the user to receive the information corresponding to the personality profiles from the network 16. As an example, upon the user coupling the portable electronic device 12 to STATION 2 in the kitchen, the portable electronic device 12 can launch the website (www.recipe url.com) in a local Internet browser to automatically access a list of recipes to allow the user to cook dinner in the kitchen. The user could then disconnect the portable electronic device 12 from STATION 2, walk into the home bar, and couple the portable electronic device 12 to STATION 6. In response, the portable electronic device 12 can then automatically launch the website (www.mixology url.com) in a local Internet browser to automatically access a list of mixed drinks to allow the user to make a given type of mixed drink properly.
In addition, in the example of
In the example of
As described above in the example of
The configuration screen 200 includes a list of URLs 202 that are programmed by the user as corresponding to separate switches, demonstrated at 204. Specifically, STATION 2, located in the user's kitchen, can be programmed with more than one personality profile, such that a given one of the personality profiles can be activated based on which of the switch(es) 60 have been activated. Thus, the user could use STATION 2 for other purposes than reading recipes, but could also listen to music, watch television, or read calorie-counting information. The user could adjust one or more of the switch(es) 60 to switch between the personality profiles, or could select one from the configuration screen 200 itself. In addition, in the example of
In view of the foregoing structural and functional features described above, an example methodology will be better appreciated with reference to
What have been described above are examples of the invention. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the invention, but one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many further combinations and permutations of the invention are possible. Accordingly, the invention is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of this application, including the appended claims.
Lemarchand, Romuald Francois, Smith, Ian Cameron
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